9.14.09: cod and couscous, with a dash of leftover mushroom stuffing.

Panko-Crusted Cod with Mushroom, Garlic and Parsley Couscous

I really wanted Michael to write about this so he could explain how he used up some leftovers from thismeal, but as one of the meals that he had right before he got sick last week, he didn’t want to look at it–negative associations and all that. Since I fortunately was not stricken by a fever following this meal, I will sing its (and his) praises instead.

I’ll be honest: we’re not always the best about saving things like bones, or shrimp shells, or the like, and when we do, we always forget about them and therefore never use them (a habit I’m working on breaking). This, therefore, is a rare example of us really stretching our resources and ending up with a pretty tasty dish to boot. There was excess mix, along with the stems, from our recent stuffed mushrooms dish lying in the fridge and Michael mentioned that he wanted to do something with them, like throw them into a veggie broth or similar. It sounded reasonable enough to me, and I promptly put them out of my mind until I came home Monday night to see him whipping up a garlicky mushroom topping for the panko-breaded cod and couscous.

Not only was I thrilled that we had stretched our fridge contents to make two meals from one recipe, but the two applications naturally tasted completely different from each other: here it was light an unassuming, while the originals were dense morsels of toasted goodness. Needless to say, it took most of my willpower to not wolf it down that night so I’d have lunch the next day, but it was hard to do–and a delicious reminder to always find ways to re-purpose ingredients that you otherwise would be tempted to throw away.